RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Residents from the nearby Terra Vista neighborhood raised concerns over a Walmart Supercenter project proposed not far from their homes and apartments.

The residents spoke during a public meeting for the project held during Wednesday night's Planning Commission meeting. Their testimony was taken into record and will be included in a future environmental impact report.

Walmart proposes to build a 189,000-square-foot supercenter, which would also sell groceries, have an outdoor garden center and a drive-through pharmacy. The store would be on a 29-acre site on the northeast corner of Foothill Boulevard and Mayten Avenue.

Issues raised included increased 24-hour-a-day traffic, noise, the lack of certain benefits for Walmart employees, and the potential to draw business from other stores and shops in the area, leading to what some have termed "urban decay."

"Basically, how big Walmart is, is it takes away the independent business owners' business," said Mark Pine, who lives near the site.

"We'll have a lot of vacant lots in the area. It brings congestion, traffic, the noise and there's already a Walmart less than a mile away. I don't know why they would be building a supercenter here when they could build where they're at right now or keep it the way it is."

Lilliana Ray, who also lives nearby, said she's concerned about business impacts and health concerns from trucks and 24-hour traffic that would be travelling in and out of the center.

"The business impact that I'm concerned about is when big Walmarts come in, all the little stores go out, I do believe they may be struggling, but we still have people shopping in this area. I consider that a blessing because I don't see the stores that are all empty.

"If this big Walmart were to come in, we would end up with all these stores empty, which would bring in crime, which would bring in looting. The whole atmosphere of Rancho Cucamonga would go down."

An existing Walmart on Foothill Boulevard, east of the 15 Freeway, is anticipated to close when the new supercenter opens.

"The existing Rancho Cucamonga Walmart store has been servicing the community for more than 20 years," said Rachel Wall, Walmart spokeswoman.

"The store opened in 1993. In our efforts to better serve our customers, we're planning to relocate the store to another convenient location that would be a full-service one stop shopping store, with a full service grocery department store -- an area Walmart customers have come to expect."

Wall said the existing building is owned by the company and Walmart's realty division would be aggressively looking for tenants to fill the space when it should become vacated.

"The new location is fairly close to the previous location, so we have been coexisting alongside many other small- and medium-sized businesses in Rancho Cucamonga for the last two decades," Wall said.

"Typically what we see when we open a new store or relocate an existing store, there are new opportunities for businesses located close by to benefit from the additional foot traffic."

The project would be a key part of the existing Terra Vista Promenade commercial center, which already includes a Home Depot and Spaghetti Factory. City leaders said the new store would help serve existing and new residents to Rancho Cucamonga and would also be a source of new jobs.

Walmart would operate the store 24 hours a day and would receive about 87 truck deliveries each week. The site proposal includes two vehicle entrances on Foothill Boulevard, and another access on Mayten Avenue. Half of the truck deliveries, Wall said, are anticipated to be from small, two-axle trucks associated with Walmart vendors.

In order to reduce the effect of traffic and lighting, Wall said Walmart has options to implement special features such as non-spill lighting to prevent light pollution into neighborhoods and below-grade delivery areas to capture noise.

"Through the planning and the (environmental report) process, anticipated traffic patterns will be studied and evaluated," Wall said. "Of course there will be public meetings as part of the impact and mitigation measure can and will be suggested."

A firm is conducting an economic impact study to analyze potential urban blight issues and an economic impact report will be included with a final environmental impact report to be released later this year.